Towards a circular plastics economy
A Relational Economic Geography Approach
E.C. de Ruiter (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
K.B.J. Van den Berghe – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
W. Sojka – Mentor (Wageningen University & Research)
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Abstract
Plastic waste management remains a critical bottleneck in the transition to a circular plastics economy, as current recycling technologies cannot match the scale and material quality needed to displace virgin plastics. Recent bankruptcies among European pioneering recycling firms show that technological invention alone does not guarantee market acceptance. In this thesis, I have examined the conditions needed for the system surrounding the pioneering recycling firms, referred to as innovation ecosystems, that enable the commercialisation of Dutch inventions in plastic waste management.
Methodologically, the study operationalises relational economic geography as a framework for analysing which conditions shape commercialisation across multiple scales. In doing so, a multi-scalar contextual analysis is combined with patent mapping of Y02W30-classified technologies between 2000 and 2025.
The results show that innovation activity in this domain is concentrated in (petro-)chemical firms rather than pure recyclers, and that patent activity is dominated by a small number of large applicants located in the Antwerp–Rotterdam–Rhine–Ruhr (ARRRA) meta-cluster. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that the failure of innovative firms in plastic waste management in the Netherlands stems from an accumulation of several constraints, at its basis, high energy costs, the lack of offsets, and the use of non-targeted taxes and tax exemptions. As well as a lack of steering in policies and industrial policy. Combined with persistent labour shortages in STEM, long and complex food-approval permit applications.
For these inventions to commercialise, cluster embeddedness and regional specialisation, in addition to economies of scale, infrastructural co-location and vertical integration are important pillars. Co-location facilitates strategic coupling between firms, infrastructure and feedstock flows, enabling resource efficiency and reduced energy costs; conditions that are necessary to realise cost parity with virgin plastics. In addition, alignment through licensing, joint ventures, and open-innovation networks is a critical mechanism for scaling these technologies.
In sum, commercialisation is not determined by the invention itself, but by the relational conditions embedded in specialised industrial chemical clusters. Without alignment of infrastructural, economic and institutional conditions, inventions are unlikely to mature beyond the demonstration stage, particularly in contexts lacking targeted industrial support, as currently observed in the Netherlands.